Eucharistic Meditation, July 25

Lk 9:10-17

The Lord?s Supper has been celebrated in many different ways through the centuries. In many churches, the people come forward and kneel to receive the elements. In the Roman Catholic church, the elevation of the Host has been nearly as important as the communion meal. Some Reformed churches bring out tables at the beginning of the Communion, so that the church can reenact the Last Supper as closely as possible. I have argued in the sermon that sitting for Communion is the best posture, because it is the posture associated with meals. Perhaps we should think of how to recline, as Jesus did at the Last Supper.

But there are many other questions about how to celebrate the meal. Let me focus on only one. In most Reformed churches through the centuries, the minister and elders receive the bread and wine first, and then distribute it to the people. Though we don?t do it that way, it makes theological and liturgical sense. At the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus blessed the bread, broke it, and the apostles distributed it to the people.

This is a picture of the order of the church: Jesus works specifically through the officers of His church, who are called and equipped to minister to the people of God. But the minister and elders do NOT carry on the work of the church themselves. The elders give the bread to the people, and YOU share it with each other, ministering the bread of life to one another. James Jordan has suggested that the ministry of the church is like a river: The river flows like the oil on Aaron?s head, flowing down over the Head, Jesus, down over the ministers and elders and to the skirts of the garments.